Marketing and media strategies in place? Check. Advertising plans are negotiated and placed? Check. Customers coming in the door? Check. Check!
Business increasing to the level you expected? Hmm. Maybe not. So now what can you do?
Business owners, marketing executives and media buyers alike work hard to put together the right advertising and marketing strategies to demonstrate the effectiveness of their products and services and keep them on customers’ minds.
By doing this, the intention is to drive customers into their stores or to buy their services. It is really frustrating for business owners when the campaigns seem to be bringing people to their doors, and yet their sales do not increase the way they were expected to.
How can that be? If that’s your experience, you may be relying solely on your advertising campaigns to do all the work for you. Advertising, you see, is only part of the process. You need to convert the people you're reaching into sales for your company.
Another key part of increasing sales: an informed, enthusiastic, prepared staff.
This is especially true since the pandemic. Staffing issues can squander an effective media and advertising strategy. I can imagine several marketing execs are nodding their heads vigorously at that revelation! Often times, the marketing personnel are held accountable for increased sales.
However, there is nothing marketing executives and media buyers can do or say to compensate for a staff that is not prepared to engage with customers.
What if your company is not prepared for your marketing efforts to work because your staff is not ready or not able to handle the response to your latest campaign? If there are not enough people on staff to handle a busy sale, or servers on hand to keep things running smoothly once capacities are restored, customers will walk out empty handed and leave frustrated. And what about home service providers advertising an offer for free service? If you don’t have enough technicians qualified to respond, don’t expect an increase in sales — instead, brace yourself for a backlash.
Poor training may the root of the problem. If people are calling or coming in for your services, but walking away without purchasing anything, it could be because of poor morale, complacency issues or even a lack of knowledge about your products or sales offers among your staff.
Make sure your staff is made aware and feels like a part of any marketing strategy or advertising plan you put in place. A sales training workshop or weekly motivational meeting might be helpful.
The next time your business is gearing up to advertise a big sale or offer, add staffing and training to your checklist. By making sure your staff is well trained and ready to take your business to the next level, your closing ratios are likely to improve, and so will your sales!
